Nightmare of the Daleks
by RabidDog008
Summary: The Daleks find themselves outnumbered against some of the most popular and terrifying creatures from Doctor Who in recent years.


Hidden beneath a dark layer of clouds, the planet had a nearly inhospitable forest terrain, thick with branches, creepers and leaves. Anyone else would give it an interesting name, either inspired by its topographical features or after one of their ancient gods, or even a jumble of letters they threw at the page hoping that it would make sense to whomever read it. The Daleks however had no imagination, so they just called it "the planet", one of many unnamed they had come across.

The bronze flying saucer-like ship floated in orbit above the planet. On the ship's bridge, a Dalek navigation officer read the information coming from the machine it operated with its manipulator arm. It swivelled its head around to face the ship's commander. "SCANS INDICATE TERRAIN IS MADE UP OF DENSE PLANT LIFE," it barked.

"UNDERSTOOD," the commander said, activating the screen above it to speak to an engineer, "SEND THREE SCOUTS TO THE PLANET'S SURFACE."

"I OBEY," said the engineer. The three scouts moved into position on the transmat, and after the engineer twiddled with the console, the scouts vanished with a flash of blue and reappeared on a clearing in the planet's forest.

The troop leader moved forward, lifting it's manipulator up into the air. Where it wanted to go was several hundred meters from this point. It and the scouts could easily fly there above the forest, but they wanted to go through the woods to get a better idea of what they'd be dealing with in case any natives in need of extermination took refuge in there. "THIS WAY. ENGAGE CUTTING TOOLS."

The other two scouts approached the thick wall of vegetation and let loose with a white hot jet of flame, quickly slicing through to another small clearing. The three continued into the darkness, unaware of the hidden eyes watching them.

They continued on for nearly three hours, travelling over four hundred kilometres from where they started before the leader called for them to halt. The two scouts shut their tools off and swivelled their heads around. "SCANS ARE PICKING UP NUMEROUS LIFE SIGNS TEN KILOMETERS OUT. PROCEED WITH CAUTION."

A few minutes later they reached a clearing and something caught on of the scout's eye. Shutting off the power tools the leader cautiously edged forward, gun at the ready. The dark quickly became too much. "ENGAGE NIGHT VISION," it said, and promptly found itself eyestalk to battered eyestalk with a damaged and run down Dalek casing.

It had been there for many years, its bronze colouring coated in dirt and grime. Its bottom section split open with a large tree growing through the hole, its midsection hung open, with no trace of the tentacled creature within to be seen. The leader scanned the identification tag under the eyestalk, its reading exactly the same as one of the cutter equipped scouts.

"THIS CASE'S IDENFICATION SCANS THE SAME AS YOURS," the leader said to the furthest scout.

"EXPLAIN," it screeched.

"THIS IS NOT OUR PRIORITY. CONTINUE WITH CUTTING."

"I OBEY," the two chimed before turning back to the mess of plants ahead of them.

The three daleks proceeded a few minutes more before they stumbled into new terrain; giant pointed rocks reached towards the stormy sky, spikey bushes grew from cracks through the rock but the most notable feature were the nine crumbling angel statues spread out over the clearing. The daleks moved forward slowly, hovering over the uneven ground with the blue glow from their eyes lighting up the angel's faces, all of which were covered by their hands.

Dalek leader moved forward and raised its arm to scan the closest statues. "LIFE SIGNS CONFIRMED." It turned its head to face the other two, who looked between each other trying to make sense of how these lumps of stone read as being life forms. The leader turned back to face the statue and when it saw the face it jerked back in what could be interpreted as surprise. The angel had moved, its hands away from its face, looking serenely at the dalek leader.

From behind came a _swoosh_ and the leader turned to see only one dalek remaining, an angel statue stood in the missing one's place with its arm outstretched. The two daleks moved closer to each other as the angels advanced each time the daleks looked away. The angel's hands were reached out like claws, their faces contorted into a roar. Back to back the daleks sat in the middle of the clearing as the stone angels flew and froze towards them….

"EXTERMINATE!" screeched both the daleks, opening fire on the stone angels. They shattered into thousands of pieces as the dalek death ray swept over them. Within seconds the angels were rubble, and the two daleks stood alone.

"THE MISSION MUST BE COMPLETED," said the leader as it continued on its path. The scout stood back, looking around the clearing before turning back and following.

Soon they found themselves back in the woods. According to their internal clocks in this time zone it was mid-morning on this dark planet, but this section of the woods was filled with a shadow blacker than any they had travelled through to get here. At one point it was so dark the bright light of the dalek cutting tool barely pierced it. It was at this time the scout let out a murmur before violently shaking and coming to a stop.

"STATUS REPORT," said the dalek leader, "WHY HAVE YOU STOPPED?" The scout didn't answer. Its eyestalk lifted and the head moved slowly to face the leader. Its head lights began flashing on and off and the eye piece flicked.

"I-I-I-I-I-I-I…" it stuttered, its midsection turned to face the leader.

"WHAT" asked the leader, carefully moving backwards.

The scout split open to reveal its innards; the glowing controls were dim, like they were suffocated by darkness, and the creature and all biological components held within were gone; eaten. The casing shook and crashed onto the floor, the leader looking over it.

The planet of nightmares had one more in store for the dalek troop leader. It turned back and flew along the path it had travelled down moments before as its vision obscured. "MY VISION IS IMPAIRED," it yelled as it hurtled blindly into a tree. The bottom part of its casing broken, the dalek was trapped.

The darkness dissolved and vision came back to the dalek leader. It swung its head around and faced a tall humanoid figure dressed in black creeping out from the thick woods. The creature walked forward with fluid grace, its hands reaching out to grab tree branches as it did so. The dalek turned its eyestalk upwards to the alien's face as its mouth split open like a scream as all went to black.


End file.
